The Eleventh Ward

Chapter 3

I couldn't sleep at all the first night. The bed was strange and unfamiliar. I was used to the hardness of the prison beds, but this one was soft and too bouncy. Every time I turned over, I bounced too much and was scared I would wake up Lacey. I looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table between the beds. '6:03'. I remembered what Ashton had said about the showers only being warm if you got in early, so I got up and walked to the nurses station. As I approached, they seemed to freeze. I knew what they were thinking, they were just like everyone else. Problem was, no matter how scared they were of me, one of them had to help me. I chose the one with mousey hair in a bun. She was the younger out of the two, but most importantly looked way more scared than the other.

"I need some shower stuff," I said. That was when most people breathed a sigh of relief at such a normal request, but this girl seemed exactly the same as she had before I'd said anything. Carefully though, she turned around and opened one of the cabinets behind her and took out a bottle of shower jel and another with shampoo and conditioner. She put them on the desk in front of me, and as I put my hand up to take them, hers flew back. God forbid she made hand contact with a criminal.

"Thanks, I need some clothes as well" I was hoping that my parents had dropped them off by now, but when the girl shook her head I guessed I was wrong. "What am I supposed to do then?" The girl flinched back, and I swear I saw a tear forming in her eye. Jesus what was wrong with these people. Suddenly, a quiet buzzing sound came from the desk and the girl moved her attention to the door leading from the elderly ward. That's when she breathed a sigh of relief. Ashton walked over to me, a carrier bag in his hand.

"What's up?" he smiled, leaning against the desk next to me.

"My parents didn't drop off my clothes," I scowled at the girl behind the desk.

"Good job I kept my promise then," Ashton handed me the bag, his smile growing bigger. "Sorry if they don't fit right, I kind of had to guess. But there's everything in there," I looked up at him, "Okay no not everything" I tried to stifle a laugh. "My sister looked up a photo of you and gave me some sizes to base around, but I don't completely trust her on... Some stuff" Ashton's cheeks were turning bright red, and I felt like I wouldn't be able to hold in my laughter anymore.

"Thanks Ashton," I smiled before turning round and walking off into the girls corridor.

When I got back to my room, I emptied the bag of clothes onto my bed and started picking through them. There were 3 t-shirts, one of them just a normal black vest, another one a baseball t-shirt and the last one a The 1975 band shirt. I don't know how, but he'd managed to guess my music taste pretty well. Or maybe it was just his, I don't know. They're were two pairs of leggings, black skinny jeans and a pair of grey shorts. A pack of socks sat at the bottom of the bag along with three pairs of plain black panties. I checked the size, and they were perfect for me. This boy seemed to be pretty damn good at guessing. He'd also thrown in a tube of mascara which made me feel so happy. I hadn't go to wear make up in so long, and I couldn't wait to feel pretty again.

The water wasn't exactly warm, but it was better than it had been in juvie and I finally felt refreshed. "Hey, I didn't know you liked The 1975" smiled Luke when I sat down at breakfast.

"Yeah, they're one of my all time favourites,"

"You're gonna fit in fine here then" he said, eating a forkful of scrambled eggs. Lacey had decided to skip breakfast and sleep in, and Calum and Michael were missing as well.

"Where are they?" Erin asked, motioning to the spaces next to Luke.

"Fuck knows," he replied. "Hey Brandi, you any good at cards,"

"Better than you" I smirked.

"You're on,".

I spent the rest of the day in the lounge area, playing cards on the ping pong table with Luke. It seemed so weird to be spending time with someone as if we were completely normal people. We spoke about old high school memories, what it was like to live in the ward.